Windmill.



J. J. HOUSTON.

WINDMILL.

APPLIOATIOH rum) 91m. 10, 1011.

Patented June 10, 1913 Ill ITNESSES 62) John J. Houston,

JOHN J'. HOUSTON, OF WYLIE, TEXAS.

WINDMILII.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JoHNJ. HOUSTON, a citizen of the. United States, "residing at lVylie, in the county of Collin and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Windmills, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in windmills, and relates morparticularly to'windmills of the horizontal type.

The object of the invention is to provide a windmill in which half of the wind-Wheel will be incased, so that the rotative impulse, to which the vanes of thewheel are'subjected when moving in the direction of the wind at one side of the Wheel, will not be counteracted or lessened by the motion of v the vanes against thewind at the other side of the wheel. p, p a

Another object consists in pivotally mounting the vanes of the wind-wheel in such a manner that they will occupy a substantially radial position when moving in the direction of the wind, so'as to each present a maximum surface. to the wind, but when passing through the casing, said vanes will swing to a substantially tangential position, so as to offer the least possible resistance to the air Within the casing.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision of a vertical vane, pivoted upon the Wind-wheel casing, and adapted to be heldin various positions of angular adjustment, thus making it possible to regulate the rotative force exerted upon the Wind wheel by the wind, since the casing is rotatable, and must assume a position such that said vane will be parallel with the wind.

Finally, the object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described that will be strong, durable, simple and cilic-ient, and comparatively easy to construct, and also one that will not be likely to get out of working order.

iVith these and various other objects in view, my invention has relation to certain novel features of the construction and operation, an example of which is described in the following specification, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view of the windmill in side elevation, showing the top portion of the windmill tower, a circular wall, which is integral with the casing and partially incloses. the wind-wheel, being broken away Specification of Letters Patent.

Appligzation filed September 16, 1911.

secured to the extended Patented J une 10, 1913. Serial No. 649,612.

iii this view to more completely reveal the construction of the Wind-wheel. Fig. 2 is a top view of the windmill. Fig. 3 is a hori zontal sectional view of the same, taken upon the line a2-m of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective View of one of the wind-wheel vanes.

' Referring now more particularly to the drawing, wherein like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in all the figures, the numeral 1 denotes the tower supports, four in number, and 2 a pair of horizontal beams surmounted upon the supports 1, and crossing each other at right angles. *A circular platform 3 is rigidly mounted upon the cross beams 2, and a vertical shaft 4: passes through the cepter of said platform, extend-- ing for some dlstanee thereabove, The shaft '4 is adapted to rotate in a-flanged bearing 5 mounted beneath the platform, and secured to the beams 2 by bolts passing through the flange of said bearing. Above the platform 3, a semi-cylindrical casing 6 is rotatably mounted upon the shaft 4, the height of said casing being considerably less than its radius. The top and bottom surfaces of the casing are each strengthened by two diametral braces 7 and S, the former being adjacent to the inner or straight edges of said surfaces, and the latter being perpendicular to the straight edge of said surfaces. The shaft 4 passes through the braces 7 and 8 at their junctures, said braces forming the bearings for the casing. The circular Wall of the casing has one of its extremities extended beyond the casing in the same circular are through ninety degrees, as indicated at 9, and then curved slightly outward through a short arc, as indicated at 10. The other extremity of the casing wall also projects slightly beyond the casing, being curved outwardly in the form of a semi-cylinder of comparatively small diameter, designated by the numeral '11. The two braces 8 project beyond the casing 6 for a distance equal to the radius of the cylinder,

the extremities of said braces being rigidly portion of the casing wall at the juncture of the parts 9 and 10 thereof.

The two braces 7 are each extended at one extremity slightly beyond the casing, and in the extended portions, a vertical rod 12 is rotatably mounted, its upper extremity extending a short distance beyond the upper brace. Upon said extremity of the rod 12 is carried a vertical vane 13, projecting outwardly from the casing, and provided with a sleeve it at its inner extremity to receive the rod 12. l.l1elo\ veredge of said vane is horizontal and on a level with the top of the casing, while the upper edge is gradually turned up \vard from the sleeve l l to the outer extremity. A quadrant 15, provided with teeth on its top surface, is mounted upon the easing 6,. adjacent to the rod 12, and partially encircles said rod. An arm l6,w hicl1 projects inwardly from the sleeve 1-1 and is curved gradually downward, has its lower extremity closely adjacent to the quadrant 15. Upon said extremity is pivotally mounted a dog 17, the shank of which is parallel with the. vane 13, and normally horizontal. The pivotal point of said dog is'posi-tioned adjacent toits inner extremity, which extremity'is turned down and is normally engaged between two of the teeth of said quad rant, preventing any pivotal motion of the vane 13, and holding the same rigid with relation to the casing 6. A small coiled spring 18 has itslower end attached to the dog 17 a short distance to the rear of the pivotal point of said dog, the upper extremity of the spring being attached to the curved arm 16. Said spring is under constant tension, and serves to hold the'extremity .of the dog against any possible-accidental displacement from the .teeth'of the quadrant. From the outer end of the dog 17, a rope 19 iS-SUS- pended, which rope permits the dog to be subjected to anangular displacement to disengage its inner extremity from the teeth of the quadrant, and also permits the entire vane to be swung-about its pivotal support, so as to change'its angle of inclination with the casing, the dog being actuated by the spring 18 to again engage the teeth of the quadrant whenthe tension on therope is released. When the rope 19 is employed to produce an angular displacement of the vane 13, said rope must be inclined at an'angle with the vertical, so as to cause a' rotary force to act horizontally upon the dog 17. It

'is apparent from the foregoing description,

that the'casing-{S will assume a position such. that the vane 13 will be parallel with the direction ofthe wind, moreover, since the cy-.

lindrical wall of the casin extends through seventy degrees,

casing must pass through the opening or break said wall, .covering'an arcof ninety degrees. Since the-positionof the casing 7 relative to the direction of the wind mustde-.

pend. upon the position-in which the vane 13 18 adjusted, it is apparent that said vane furnishes a means to regulate the amount of wind enteringthe casing This amount will be a maximumwhen the casing occupies'a position such thatjthe braces? are-parallel with the directionof the Wind; If desired,

the casing may be made to occupy a position such that the wind-wheel within the casing, presently to be described, is entirely cut olt' from the action of the wind. An outwardly projecting rod 20 is mounted upon the opposite end of the upper brace 7 to that through which the rod 12 is passed, and upon the rod 20 is adj ustably mounted a weightQl, adapted to counter-balance the weight of the vane 18 and the mechanism correlated with said vane.

A description Will now be given of a horizontal wind-wheel rigidly mounted uponftlie shaft 4, and partially inclosed within the, casing 6. Thehub of the wind-wheellnis 4, extending from top to bottom of the cas- "the form of a sleeve 22, fast upon the shaft ing, and upon said sleeve are rigidly mounted a pair of circular frames 23, equidistant from the hub extremit es. A plurality of vertical rods 24 are rigidly mounted between the two frames 23 at equal intervals of space,

each of. said-rods acting as the pivotal support for a vane 25, a pair of lugs-26 being provided upon each vane, substantially equidistant from its extremities, to receive the correlated ro'dv2t. When these vanes are exposed to the force of the wind, they assume substantially radial positions, so that the forceexerted upon theinjby the wind will develop a maximum efiiciency. When the vanes are passing through the casing 6, however, they willswing to a substantially tangential position, so'that they will. meet with the least possible resistance from the. air within the casing. That portion of each vane upon which the wind impinges has itshorizontal edges 27 slightly over-turned, so as to be more effective in catching the Wind. The other end of each vane, which is not acted upon by the wind, is reduced area to lessen the weight of the vane. A plurality of vertical rods 28 are mounted between the rings 23 adjacent to the shaft t, said rods being equal in number to the vanes" 25', and

acting as stops for the inner endspfsaid vanes, holding them to a substantially radial position when subjected to the forceof 1 the Wind. 7 An equal number of vertical rods 29 are also rigidly mounted between the rings 23, adjacent to'the outer edges of said rings, serving as stops to limit the pivotal e nt-of the vanes, and to'prevent said 'vanes from swinging beyond a tangential position when passing through'the casing 6,

12 0-- 'The'casingbis held in a 's'pacedrelation to] the platform =3 by a number of casters 3!),

two of whi'chmay'be mountedupon eaclrpt, the lower braces 7- and 8 to"reduceftheffrition arising between the platform, and ca sing when the latter is subjected to angular displacement. From the foregoing description itw ll be' .seenthe windmill constituting the present invention is adapted to develop a max mum power from the force exerted bythe wind. Since the vanes of the wind-wheel are subtautially radial at one side of said wheel,-

they are capable of exerting a powerful levcragc in producing rotation, and since the wind cannot strike said vanes at the other side of the wheel, and they assume a position such as to receive very slight resistance from the air, it is clear that the machine will accomplish a maximum amount of work under a given wind pressure. The parts 10 and 11 act as guides or deflectors to slightly increase the amount of wind entering the casing,

The lower extremity of the shaft t may be connected by any suitable gearing to operate a pump or any other piece of machinery. The foregoing description and accompany ing drawing represent the wind-wheel as being provided With four vanes, but this number may, of course, be varied as desired. It is also clear that other details of the invention are subject to change, both in form and proportion of parts without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. The device is therefore presented as including all such modifications as come within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination in a Wind Wheel, of a casing mounted to rotate, a tail vane mounted on the casing, a counter balance opposed Copies of this patent may be obtained for to the tail vane, said casing having a peripheral opening, a wheel mounted to rotate in -the casing and comprising a plurality of blades, each blade of the wheel being pivoted and comprising a broad outer portion having laterally inclined portions at its to and bottom separated by a vertical web an also provided with a reduced innerportion, said wheel having vertical stops in the path of the reduced portions of the blades, and a shaft extending centrally through the casing and the wheel.

2. In a wind wheel, the combination with a rotatably supported casing having a Wind admitting opening in its side, a vertical shaft passing centrally through the casing, a pair of superposed rings fixed on the shaft -1I1 the casing, vertical pivot rods between the rings, blades mounted on the rods having reduced portions projecting between the JOHN J. HOUSTON. l Vitnesses:

J. A. HALL, H. D. PARK.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner, Patents. Washington, D. G.

rings and enlarged portions projecting out- 

